Why artichokes and houseguests do not mix

• Because small children are freaked out by the scary looking alien vegetable sitting on Aunt Lisa's counter and run crying to their mothers, who give you nasty looks for the rest of the evening.
  
• With extended family staying at two different houses in town, you never know exactly how many people will be eating any particular meal you prepare, so you cook a few extra.
• Artichoke preparation time is too inflexible to be compatible with activity schedules in constant flux.
  
• Artichokes are intended to be placidly savored, not wolfed down prior to racing off to get good seats in order to hear the wonderful inspiring words uttered by a grown man who calls himself 'Bronco'.
• Weary, car-lagged travelers ignore all the rules of proper mealtimes and aren't hungry when they arrive for dinner.
• Artichokes are a delicacy that country bumpkins from Idaho don't appreciate.
• At a buck apiece (which is cheap for artichokes, but still), it's hard to throw them away, so you end up eating the extras yourself (since lovely leftovers artichokes do not make).
• Woman was not meant to consume that much artichoke sauce in one evening. At least this woman wain't (wasn't + ain't).

Restaurant Review: La Casita

La Casita in Springville, Utah, is my mostest favoritest Mexican restaurant ever. When we are hankering for some good mexican food, we never go anywhere else. We discovered it when we were poor newly married college students back in the 90's, and it hasn't changed a bit since then. Crowded, hole-in-the-wall atmosphere, low prices, and guuuuuud foooooood.

Located at 333 North Main Street (Hwy 89) in Springville, La Casita isn't the place you take your new prissy girlfriend if you want to impress her with a fancy restaurant. Because prissy types won't be impressed with this place. No, if you go to La Casita, you go to eat. And eat you will.

It's a tiny little rundown yellow building with tacky blue neon sign out front. See that patch of green lawn at the base of the power pole? That's astroturf.

The dingy, cramped foyer is wallpapered with ancient Polaroid pictures of customers.

The windowsills look like they've got several dozen coats of paint on them.The host/owner is a loud, brash Mexican Catholic fellow who tells his friends to "get out and give me all your money" when they're halfway through eating. His daughters take your order and bring you the food.

The food. Oh, the wonderful, amazing food.

When you are seated, the little old lady who barely speaks English brings you their freshly made tortilla chips and house Salsa. Lawsie mercy, but those chips are good. Warm, thin, and crispy. Mm-Mmmmm. If all I did was eat those chips I would be satisfied.

I chose my usual meal, menu item #37: Two pork enchiladas verde, with beans and rice on the side.

That green sauce, mixed with the rice and cheese is to die for. Usually I can eat only half. And then I am thrilled to get to take the rest home and eat it again for lunch the next day.


Tom had the beef chimichanga. Marvelous.

Studly man that he is, he finished his whole plate, except for some rice and beans. Which I put in my box. Food this good must not go to waste you understand. It must go to my waist instead.

And now for the Bottom Line: Our two entrees and 7-Ups totaled to a paltry $31.99 and that's including the tip, folks.

La Casita. Take your non-prissy honey there soon.

Got Food?

I imagine that everyone has noted the price of food is rising. Some things have gone up sharply in the last year - meat, eggs, milk, cheese, and wheat to name a few.

We buy our bread from the local Macey's grocery store. They have an in-house bakery that produces some decent bread. For the first 5 years we lived here, that wholesome, preservative free wheat bread was 99 cents. Last fall it nudged up to $1.09. Everything goes up in price over time - so it wasn't a big deal at first. Since then I've watched the price go up dramatically, to my chagrin. The latest hike was a shocker though; in two weeks, the price went up from $1.39 to $1.69.

Yeah, I know that's still cheap compared to what some of you may pay, but that's not really the point. My point is the relative increase in price - 69% in the last six months. How much more will it go up? When I came home and mentioned to Tom how much the price had jumped, he asked me, "So how high will the price have to get before you begin baking your own?"

Good question. I haven't figured that out yet.

I participate in a couple of online LDS forums, and there has been a lot of talk about food storage and the price of commodities. They've discussed how wheat is all but impossible to find anymore, even at the church canneries, because people are buying it up in a panic. World wheat stocks are very low right now. If the yield this fall is again reduced by drought, as it was last year in Australia and Russia, the supply could become very tight indeed. Today, one guy reported that in the last six weeks, a 50 lb bag of long grain rice rose from $10.15 to 17.68, with worldwide shortages predicted for the coming year. In my short life, I've never been aware of a worldwide food outlook this grim. Certainly nothing that has affected the good life here in the U.S.

And then I went downstairs to my family "store" and got out some rice and beans that I bought several months ago when they were cheap. I looked round at the buckets and cans of wheat, oatmeal, flour, sugar, oil, etc. that make up our year's supply. And then I said a quick prayer of thanks to the Lord for prophets that have counseled us since before I can remember to lay up extra food for hard times. I watch the news and furrow my brow at the trends, but I am somewhat insulated from the increases in the price of these staples. And that brings a lot of peace.

Now here's where I get preachy: Most everyone will be receiving a tax rebate in May or June. Whatever your plans for that money are, I would encourage you to consider using at least part of it to get your food storage up to date if you haven't already.

Prices are not likely to come down much if at all in the short term, and are likely to continue to go up. Please do whatever you have to do, short of going into debt, to set some food aside. You'll be glad you did.